


A Songbird's Beginnings

by Viinasu



Series: The Nightingale [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Batman - All Media Types, DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), DCU, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: ?? - Freeform, Gen, His first ward is small girl, Origin Story, Prequel, Sort Of, Takes place in Arrowverse, bruce is a dad, not really when it's the first fic in the series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 01:58:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12244866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viinasu/pseuds/Viinasu
Summary: Rosalina would someday be known as the Nightingale, Batman's first partner. Even before those challenging days, however, she had a rough start. Here is a look into the inception of one of Gotham's masked vigilantes.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> First in what I think is going to be a long series that will eventually start in the Arrowverse. Obviously I added the actual presence of Batman to it. :3 I hope you guys enjoy.

_Central City Residential Home 1993_

He walked into a gruesome scene. He scanned the room and saw his old friend lying dead in a pool of his own blood, a hand outstretched pointed towards a motionless woman and… a child? Bruce took his cowl off and immediately walked over to the small figure lying down next to her mother. It was his goddaughter, covered in blood, gripping onto her mother’s lifeless hand. He could hear her quiet sobs as he knelt down to pick her up.

            “No let me go! I wanna stay with Mama!” she started shouting, pounding her tiny fists against Bruce’s chest. Her efforts were in vain, however, because the Bat was able to easily lift up the small five year old in his arms. He cradled her to his chest and simply let her flail until she wore herself out, which didn’t take long. She cried more against him, unable to do much else.

            “Rosalina, they’re gone, I’m so sorry,” Bruce murmured against her hair as he clutched her to him as gently as he could. He had known about his friend’s predicament, wanted to check on them, but it had been too late. His friend and his wife were dead, leaving behind a small child he was now responsible for.

            “She s-said, she said she was gunna come after me, Uncle Bruce. She was gunna take me and give me as a present to someone. I don’t understand what happened Uncle Bruce, I- I,” she choked up and started crying into his chest again. So it _had_ been Qadira, that jealous witch. She’d spent years searching for this family, hunting down Khalid and Maricruz since before Rosalina was even born. Her task was to bring Khalid back alive to Ra’s, but her own motives drove her to do otherwise.

            “I’ll talk to you about it later, Rosie, why don’t we go somewhere safe for now,” Bruce tried to hush her cries while carrying the child out of the house and to the car. He brought up a screen inside and after a few ringing noises, Alfred’s face appeared on the screen. “Alfred why don’t you keep Rosie company for a bit while I go take a look around?” he reached behind the driver’s seat and produced a small stuffed animal. It was supposed to just be a toy to add to her collection but now Rosie clutched it close like a lifeline while Alfred regaled her with stories of Bruce’s adventures as the Batman.

            Bruce spent the next few hours going over the scene of the murders, collecting evidence and mourning the loss of his friends. At first he had no idea why Qadira hadn’t taken Rosalina when she had been right there, but he didn’t want to ask her any questions right now. It wasn’t until he checked the closet near the living room that he saw a small doorway hidden in the floor.

            “They must have hidden her there to keep her safe, they knew Qadira was coming,” he muttered to himself as he flashed a light into the doorway and saw that it was a crawlspace. He walked throughout the rest of the house and found Rosie’s room in disarray. Ripped toys and torn blankets were scattered all around the room. He bent down to pick up a shattered picture frame that held a family photo. Bruce took the photo and gently tucked it away to give to Rosie later.

            Bruce quickly collected photographs of the house and packed up some clothes and necessities for Rosie for the evening. He went back out and got in the car, finding a half asleep little girl still trying to listen to Alfred’s stories.

            “Master Bruce will you be heading back here with young Miss Rosie?” Alfred could be seen turning his head in his direction.

            “Yes Alfred, if you could please set up a room just for her?” he answered, placing a comforting hand on top of his goddaughter’s head.

            “Of course, sir. It would be my privilege to do so,” Alfred replied, giving a small smile to Rosalina before cutting off the video feed.

            “Rosie why don’t you try sleeping for a bit while I drive?” it was really late and she looked ready to fall over.

            “I can’t sleep right unless Mama and Papa sing to me Uncle Bruce,” she was on the verge of tears again, realizing she would no longer get to hear her parents’ voices again.

            Oh damn that’s right, they did used to sing her to sleep, since the night she was born they sang her to sleep. What was the song they sang again? It was something from an old Disney movie.

            “I know I’m not them Rosie, but is it alright if I sing it to you instead?” Bruce asked her, hoping to distract her enough to keep her from crying any more.

            After a small nod he gave a deep sigh and started, hopefully this was the right song,

“ _Sing sweet nightingale, sing sweet nightingale,_

 _High, above…_ ”

            Bruce drove away from the house singing a song he would later be told was from _Cinderella._ It was that moment he realized the beginnings of a new relationship with Rosalina. It was that moment he would someday look back on as the moment he became a parent, a father.

It was also the moment Rosalina would look back on years from then to choose her code name when she decided to fight crime alongside the Batman.

_Nightingale._


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops that took too long... Anyway, here is a look at Bruce trying to take his new daughter home but the CCPD is presenting itself as a problem. But no one gets in the way of Batman.  
> Not Beta'd sorry, feel free to let me know of any grammar or spelling issues in a comment!

_CCPD 1993_

Rosie was sitting down at a police desk at the CCPD while Bruce was talking with the detectives and social worker about custody issues. He’d left her there with her toy, his coat, and a brand new Discman to keep her distracted. She’d been interviewed by the detectives already and now it was a matter of getting everyone to let him take Rosie home with him. There wouldn’t be much of a problem if he lived in Central City, too, but fact of the matter was he was needed in Gotham, but he also needed to protect Rosalina.

She was his friends’ daughter, his own goddaughter. She was also the last of her father’s bloodline, a detail about her that made her very valuable in the eyes of Ra’s al Ghul, especially if she were to go through the ritual to receive her family’s abilities. Bruce would have to do everything he could to keep her safe.

“Mr. Wayne she’s a witness, you can’t just whisk her away to another city because it’s more convenient for you. If you can’t stay in Central City to keep custody of her, then we can at least place her with her blood relatives. Officer Nejm’s family lives here, maybe one of them can take her in,” the social worker gave Bruce a look that screamed _I’m judging you for every word that comes from your mouth._

“I want to take her home with me to Gotham for her own protection. She isn’t safe here as long as the killer is out there. She’ll be safer there with me than she will here with her uncle and his family,” he was trying to reason. Leaving her with her uncle was a bad idea. He’d already disliked Khalid marrying his sister. He would definitely blame him for the death of his sister, and he didn’t take kindly to Rosie’s birth in the first place.

“Mr. Wayne, we’d be able to protect her better from here. She can be with her family and be safe. You really-” one of the detectives spoke up but he was cut off.

“You don’t have a sliver of a clue at all at the kind of person you’re trying to deal with. This woman hunted down my friends and killed them in cold blood. The only reason my goddaughter is alive is because her parents had the foresight to hide her from that madwoman. No offense to your precinct, but Maricruz was a phenomenal officer and Khalid was a master in martial arts and it was just _barely_ enough to protect Rosalina, at the cost of their _lives,_ ” Bruce’s composure was starting to give way to his anger. “So please don’t tell me, even with all the capabilities you have here, that her staying is the best course of action. At least in Gotham I can use every one of my  _vast_  resources to ensure her safety.”

“Mr. Wayne if you are going to speak that way to us then I must insi-” the social worker spoke up but Bruce had lost his patience. He simply wanted to take Rosie and get her at least to the hotel for some rest before taking her on the jet back to Gotham.

“Enough,” there was ice in his voice, “Don’t think you can pull the wool over my eyes. Now if you speak to my lawyers and the Nejms’ you’ll know that I now have full parental rights of Rosalina. And as her legal guardian I am making the decision to take her home with me to Gotham. I’m not going to impede your investigation but I will not let that terrified little girl be in the same city as the woman looking to hurt her, do you understand me? She’s my responsibility now and I owe it to my dead friends to keep their child safe.” He turned on his heel and headed towards Rosie and picked her up in his arms. As he reached the doors to leave he turned to give a final statement, “If you have any more questions, you have my card. We’ll be back in town for the funeral _if_ you can ensure her safety.”

With that, they left, a sleepy Rosalina waving goodbye to them from over Bruce’s shoulder.

* * *

 

_Wayne Private Jet- In the Air_

Rosalina stared out the window at the clouds on her first ever plane ride. She never left Central City except for the occasional trip to Coast City to see the beach, but they had all taken a train back then. Her Uncle Bruce was going through some files she wasn’t allowed to see and drinking something she wasn’t allowed to drink. She didn’t really mind, she knew what he was reading and what he was drinking, and at that moment she didn’t really feel like staring at crime scene photos of her dead parents.

So she gazed at the clouds, and listened to music while drinking orange juice out of a glass that she could barely hold in both her hands. She had been in and out of sleep since her Uncle Bruce found her but she still felt really tired. She missed her Mama and Papa. But they were gone now, and she’d never get them back. She knew what death was, it was explained to her just last year when her Abuelo died in his sleep. But understanding the permanence of death didn’t make the hurt go away. It didn’t stop her from feeling like her entire world had been turned upside down.

Rosalina was leaving her home. She was leaving Central City. She would probably never see her old house again. No more movie nights in the living room when both her parents were home. No more dance lessons barefoot in the yard with her Mama. No more singing along to musicals with her Papa. No more birthday cakes from the local bakery that had her name spelled out in pink cursive. No more birthdays with them at all. No more anything with them.

Rosalina didn’t notice the tears streaming down her cheeks, she didn’t even notice that she’d dropped her glass to the floor, spilling juice on the carpet. Nothing from her surroundings registered in her head as she stared at the clouds until she felt herself be picked up and held against a very wide chest. Her Uncle Bruce really was a great godfather.

* * *

 

Bruce had been engrossed in sorting through the crime scene photos and analyzing every detail. It wasn’t until he heard a thud on the carpeted floor that he looked up to see Rosie crying with her eyes watching firmly out the window. He immediately got out of his seat and picked her up. He cradled her against his chest as she began wailing. He knew this was coming, she’d been too calm the past couple days, probably because of all the chaos involving the police. But things had settled down and Rosie’s shock had worn off. It was then he noticed his own tears flowing, too. The loss of two such wonderful people, two of his most trusted friends, was finally hitting him full blast.

He held his new daughter close as they both cried. He’d make sure to honor his friends’ memory and keep their child safe. He’d make sure to fill her life with happiness and love and with stories of her parents so that she would never forget the people who loved her more than anything in the world. He would love her more than anything in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh grief I didn't expect to write that last half of the chapter but I just wrote it out and said 'let's just keep the feels coming.' Sorry that was really a long time between two very short chapters but I write in random bits rather than chronological order cuz it's the only way I'm able to get anything done. :'3 Finally got around to figuring out how to write this chapter, even though it is pretty short and I have no idea what rules cops and people have to follow regarding custody of a minor. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Really sorry again and hopefully I'll get to writing the chapter where I introduce Dick real soon. Thank you for the read! =3

**Author's Note:**

> Origin stories are fun, huh? I'm hoping to get more out soon for Rosalina because I put a lot of thought into her character. Some of you are probably looking for Dick somewhere but don't worry he'll pop up towards the end. Sorry if the grammar anywhere was off this wasn't beta'd.


End file.
